Sermon – Don’t Worry be Thankful (감사하길 두려워 말라)

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard & Rev. Dr. Hwang 청주 서원경 교회

Sermon – Don’t Worry be Thankful (감사하길 두려워 말라)

Smiling Soul Happy Church, Chungju South Korea

November 22, 2015

Scripture: Exodus 15:22-27 (출애굽기 15:22-27)

The Waters of Marah and Elim

²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.^[a]) ²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. ²⁶ He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

My name is Jeff Howard. I am the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City, Maryland.

제 이름은 제프 하워드 입니다. 저는 메어리렌드 주, 오션시티에 있는 제일 장로교회의 목사입니다.

Ocean City is a small town with just 7000 people in the winter. But in the summer it grows as people come to enjoy our beach.

오션시티는 겨울에는 7000명이 사는 작은 도시입니다. 그러나 여름에는 비치를 즐기기 위해 많은 사람들이 오는 곳입니다.

Over 4000 international students come from all over the world to work in our shops hotels and restaurants. They care for the 350,000 people who come each summer on vacation, and travel in America. This is called Work and Travel cultural program for college students.

매 여름마다, 35만명 관광개객이 휴가를 오션시티에옵니다. 4천명의 외국 학생들이 상점, 호텔, 레스토랑에서 일하기 위해 세계 각국에서 왔습니다. 일하기 위하여 일하고 미국을 여행하기 위해서 옵니다.

We are just a few hours drive from Washington and New York so when you visit America come see us.

우리는 워싱턴 DC에와 뉴욕에서 몇시간 운전하면 되니, 미국에 오시면 꼭 저희에게 오셨다가 가시길 바랍니다.

This morning we will be remembering all of the blessings that we have received in our lifetimes: the blessings of our birth and loving parents, the blessing of our youth, education, and moral development, the blessings of our spouses, families, jobs and church, the blessings of retirement, travel, and lifelong friendships. We have so much to be thankful for.

오늘 아침, 우리 인생 사는 동안 받아온 모든 축복에 대해서 기억하게 될 것입니다.

우리의 출생과 우리를 사랑해주신 부모님을 주신 축복, 우리의 어린시절, 교육과 도덕적 발달에 대해서도 감사, 우리의 배우자와, 가족, 직업들, 교회에 대한 감사, 은퇴와, 여행, 그리고 오랜 친구에 대해 기억하며 감사를 드릴 것입니다.

This Thursday, Americans will gather in families to give thanks for all the blessings they have received. This is an annual ritual.

이번 주 목요일, 모든 미국인들은 가족과 함께 모여 받은 모든 축복에 대하여 하나님께 감사드릴 것입니다.

Businesses are closed. Young families travel long distances to visit grandparents. Families come together for a feast.

모든 사업들과 직장들은 문을 닫습니다. 가족들은 조부모님을 뵙기위해서 여행을 할 것이며, 가족들과 함께 잔치를 할 것입니다.

Many people will volunteer to feed the poor on Thanksgiving so that they too may join the feast.

많은 사람들은 추수감사절날 가난한 사람을 먹이는 일에 봉사를 할 것입니다. 가난한 사람들도 추수감사절음식을 즐기게 될 것입니다.

The traditional meal includes turkey with all the fixings, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green been and mushroom casseroles, jello salad, and of course my favorite, pumpkin pie.

전통적인 추수감사절 음식은 여러종류의 재료를 넣은칠면조와, 으깬감자, 스터핑, 콩, 버섯요리, 젤로 샐러드, 그리고 제가 제일 좋아하는 호박파이입니다..

We watch American football on TV. And we do all this is the spirit of thanksgiving.

온 가족들이 잔치 뒤에는 텔레비젼으로 축구를 봅니다. 우리가 함께 하는 이모든것은 추수감사의 마음 속에서 하는 것입니다.

In this spirit of thanksgiving, will you pray with me? Father in heaven, we approach your throne this morning thankful for all you have done for us. Purge from our minds the worries that often overwhelm us. Help us to focus this week on all that you have provided for us, especially our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

추수감사의 마음 속에서, 저와 함께 기도하시겠습니까? 하늘에 계신 아버지여, 우리가 오늘 당신의 보좌 앞에, 우리에게 주신 감사의 마음으로 여기에 왔습니다. 우리를 자주 엄습해오는 걱정들을 우리 마음에서 제가 하여 주시옵소서. 우리가 이주간에는 아버지께서 주신 모든 것들에 감사하게 하시옵소서, 특별히 우리 주이시며 구원자이신 예수 그리스도를 감사하게 하소서, 예수 이름으로 기도합니다. 아멘

If you are anything like me you worry most of the time. I worry about the stock market going down and what is happening to my retirement funds. I worry about my parents getting older and how they will be cared for.

만약, 여러분이 저와 같다면, 여러분도 많은 일로 걱정을 할 것입니다. 주식 마켓이 내려가서 은퇴 자금이 떨어지는 것을 것을 걱정할 것입니다. 부모님이 연세가 들어가서 어떻게 돌보아 드릴 것인지 걱정할 것입니다.

I worry about this church and the problems each of you face. I worry, like so many others, about paying the bills each month. Worry is a part of my life and I am sure that worry is a part of your lives too.

저는 교회에 일어나는 어려움들에 대해서 염려를 합니다. 다른 사람들처럼, 매달 처리해야 하는 공과금에 대해서 염려합니다. 염려는 제 삶의 한 부분이며, 염려가 여러분의 인생의 한 부분인 것을 확신 합니다.

The Israelites were worried as they wandered in the wilderness. Just a few days after God freed them from slavery in Egypt with the miraculous parting of the Red Sea they ran out of water.

이스라에 백성들은 광야에서 해멜때, 걱정을 하였습니다. 하나님께서 그들을 이집트의 노예에서 해방하셨고 홍해를 가르는 기적을 보여 주었지만 며칠 지나지 않아서 물이 없어 고생을 하게됩니다.

Moses, who had been a shepherd in this desert for forty years, guided them to a watering hole, but the water was bitter and people were worried.

40면 동안 광야에서 양치기를 했던 모세가 이스라엘 백성을 물이 있는 곳으로 그들을 인도하였으나, 그 물은 써서 먹을 수가 없어서, 사람들은 걱정을 했습니다.

“O Moses, what have you done? We had plenty of water in Egypt. It would have been better to die there than die here in the desert of thirst.”

“모세, 당신은 어떤 일을 했는지 압니까? 우리가 이집트에서는 충분한 물이 있어소. 우리가 이 사막에서 목말라 죽기는 것보다 이집트에서 죽는 것이 더 낳았을 것이요"

God knew they were worried so God led them to an area with twelve springs, one for each tribe.

하나님께서은 이스라엘 백성이 염려를 아시고, 각 이스라엘 지파마다, 1개씩 해당하는, 12개의 우물들이 있는 곳으로 인도하셨습니다.

But a few days later the Israelites ran out of food. They worried again. “O Moses, what have you done? We had plenty of food in Egypt. It would have been better to die there with full stomachs that to die out here in the wilderness of hunger.”

그러나 며칠후에, 이스라엘 백성에게 더 이상 먹을 것이 없었습니다. 그들은 다시 걱정하며 “ 모세, 너가 우리에게 행한지 아는가? 우리가 이집트에서는 충분한 음식이 있었소. 사막가운데 배고파서 죽어가기보다 배가 부른 이집트 따에서 죽는 것이 나았을 것이요”

God knew that they were worried so he rained down bread from heaven each morning and had quails fly by every evening so that the Israelites would never be hungry.

하나님은 이스라엘의 걱정을 아시고, 아침마다 하늘로 부터 빠을 내려주시고, 저녁마다 메추라기를 내려 주셔서 이스라엘 백성을 배고픔에서 건져주셨습니다.

You would think that with all these blessings from God the Israelites would never worry again.

여러분은 하나님으로 부터 온 축복을 이스라엘 백성이 날마다 경험하면서 결코 다시는 걱정하지 않았을 것이라고 생각 할 것입니다.

Time after time God had provided for them. But when the spies returned from the Promised Land with a report that the people of Canaan where powerful, and descended from giants the Israelites were worried, really worried.

하나님은 계속해서 그들의 필요를 제공 하셨습니다. 그러나, 스파이들이 약속의 땅으로 부터 돌아와서는 가나안 땅의 사람들이 거인들의 후손이며 매우 강력하다고 보고를 하였을 때는 이스라엘 백성은 지나치게 걱정을 하였습니다.

“O Moses, what have you done? In Egypt we weren’t facing slaughter. It would have been better to remain slaves than to all be killed in this strange place.”

“ 모세, 너가 우리에 행한 일이무엇인가? 이집트에서는 우리가 학살을 직면하지 않았었소, 이 알지못하는 땃에서 우리 모두가 죽임을 당하는 것 보다 노예로 사는 것이 훨씬 낳았지 않겠소”

With that their God, who was slow to anger and abiding in steadfast love, had enough. God was ready to wipe out his people and start over.

변치 않는 사랑을 가지고 화를 속히 내지 않으시는 하나님께서 더 이상 이스라엘 백성에 대해서 참을 수 없어서 모든 사람을 죽이고 새롭게 시작하기를 원하셨습니다.

But Moses intervened and reminded God of God’s love for God’s people. So God relented, and permitted the Israelites to wander around the desert for forty years where they could worry all the time until a new generation, free from worry, could take what was being offered, a land flowing with milk and honey.

그러나 모세는 하나님께 하나님의 백성에 대한 사랑을 기억하게 하시고 자비를 간구했습니다. 그래서 하나님께서는 이스라엘이 40년동안 걱정이 많은 사막에서 방황하게 하셨습니다. 새로운 새대가 젖과 꿀이 흐르는 땅으로 들어갈 수 있도록 하셨습니다.

Worry is part of our lives. We do it well because we practice it all the time.

걱정은 우리 삶의 부분입니다. 우리는 걱정하는 것을 연습하며 살기때문에 걱정을 잘 할 수 있습니다.

We are worried about the economy and the values of our retirement investments and homes.

우리는 돈과 우리가 연금의 하락과 집의 가치의 하락에 대해서 걱정합니다.

We are worried about keeping our jobs, or finding a job.

우리는 직업을 지키기 위해서 걱정하며, 잡을 찿으려고 걱정합니다.

We are worried about our health and what will happen to us as we age.

우리는 건강을 위해서 걱정하며, 우리가 늙었을 때 일어날 일에 대해서 걱정합니다.

We are worried about our families and their future.

우리는 가족들과 미래를 위해서 걱정합니다.

The Christians of the Protestant Reformation were also filled with worry.

개신교 기독교들 또한 걱정으로 가득찼었습니다.

Our protestant forefathers desired independence from the Rome.

우리의 개신교 선조들은 로마로부터 독립을 갈말했습니다.

Those in the Netherlands fought for independence from Spain.

네달렌드에서 개신교 신자들은 스페인으로 부터 독립을위해 싸웠습니다.

They gathered into churches and confessed their faith which sustained them through these most dangerous times.

개신교 신자들은 교회안에 모여서 가장 위험하고 어려운 시간들을 극복하기위해 믿음을 고백했습니다.

Reformed and Presbyterian Churches in America are thankful for their sacrifices which gives us the blessing of being able to worship as we choose.

미국에 있는 개혁주의 장로교회들은 우리가 신앙의 자유 따라 예배를 드릴 수 있게 한 그들의 희생에 대해서 감사를 드립니다.

And so each Thanksgiving we sing with them their prayer to God.그래서 해마다 추수 감사 때마다 그 개혁주의 신앙인들이 하나님께 드렸던 기도를 찬송으로 부릅니다.

(39. 주 은혜를 받으려 입니다)

“1. We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; 주 은혜를 받으려 모인 성도들

He chastens and hastens His will to make known; 주 크신 뜻 깨닫게 하옵소서

the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing, 내 고통의 멍에를 다 벗게 되니

sing praises to His name; he forgets not His own. 날 구속하신 이름 찬양하리

2. Beside us to guide us our God with us joining, 주 우리를 곁에서 인도하시니

ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine; 그 거룩한 나라가 이뤄지네

so from the beginning the fight we are winning; 저 마귀와 싸워서 늘 승리하니

Thou, Lord wast at our side; all glory be Thine! 큰 영광 주께 돌려 찬양하리

3. We all do extol Thee, Thou leader triumphant, 주 우리의 방패와 창검되시니

and pray that Thou still our defender wilt be, 나 승리의 주님을 따릅니다.

let thy congregation escape tribulation; 큰 환난을 당할 때 늘 도우시니

thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!”¹ 승전가 높이 불러 찬양하리

Whenever we are overwhelmed by worry there is a simple solution.

우리가 걱정에 휩싸일 때 한가지 단순한 해결책이 있습니다.

All we have to do is to turn to God with praise and thanksgiving.

우리 모두가 해야 만 하는 것은 찬양과 감사를 가지고 하나님께 돌아오는 것입니다.

By praising God our faith increases, which allows us to withstand anything that world might throw at us.

하나님께 찬양 할때, 세상이 우리를 향하여 도전하는 모든 것을 대항을 할 수 있도록 우리의 믿음은 증가됩니다.

We are able to face our worries with confidence only when we have first approached God in praise.

찬양함으로 하나님께 처음 접근 함으로서만 확신을 가지고 우리의 근심 걱정를 직면할 능력이 생기는 것입니다.

And this brings us to this morning’s scripture and Jesus’ teachings on worry.

그리고 오늘 아침에 우리를 오늘 아침의 성경 말씀과 걱정에 관한 예수의 가르침에 이르게 합니다.

Matthew 6:25-33 ²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸ And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' ³² For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

According to Jesus, the antidote for worrying all the time is service to others.

예수님에 의하면, 항상하는 걱정의 해독제는 다른 사람을 섬기는 것입니다.

If we feed someone who is hungry today then we will not be worried about being hungry tomorrow.

만약 우리가 오늘 배고픈 사람을 먹인다면, 우리는 내일 배고플것에 대해서 걱정할 것이 없다는 것입니다.

If we clothe someone who is naked today then we will not be concerned with what we will wear tomorrow.

만일 우리가 오늘 헐벗은 자를 입히면, 내일 우리가 무엇을 입을까 걱정할 것이 없다는 것입니다.

This is how the Kingdom of Heaven works.

이것은 하나님 나라가 이루어지는 길입니다.

God provides us with everything we need and all God asks us to do is to provide for the needs of others.

하나님께서 우리의 모든 필요한 것을 제공하시고, 하나님께서 우리에게 하도록 요청하는 것은 다른 사람들의 필요를 제공하는 하는 것입니다.

By caring for others we realize all the blessings that we have received and become a thankful people praising God in the highest.

다른 사람들을 돌보는 것이, 우리가 받은 모든 축복을 깨달은 증거이고, 높은 곳에 계신 하나님을 찬양하는 사람이 되는 것입니다.

The best ways for caring for others is helping them to know Jesus Christ who gives eternal live and richness on these earthly lives.

다른 사람을 돌보는 일중의 최선의 일은 사람들이 예수 그리스도를 알도록 돕는 일입니다. 예수님의 영원한 삶을 주시고 일상의 삶에 복을 더하시는 분이시기 때문입니다.

Grace and I have recently started a new worship service as a way of growing our church and evangelism.

그레이스와 저는 전도 교회 성장을 위하여 이름한 새로운 예배를 시작했습니다.

The morning worship is traditional worship, but this new worship is contemporary worship for young and new believers.

오전 예배는 전통적인 예배입니다. 그러나 이새로운 예배는 젊은 사람들 새로은 사람들을 위한 예배입니다.

We go out to the street, playground, visit and homes to share about Jesus Christ, and invite to new worship service.

우리는 길거리로 나가고, 놀이터를 찿아가며, 집을 방문하여 예수 그리스도를 전하고 교회로 초대합니다.

We have ice cream socials in our home on Thursday afternoon to invite children and youth from our neighbor for evangelism.

우리는 전도의 목적으로 목요일 오후 아이스크림 친교 시간을 갖고 이웃집의 청소년을 저희들 집으로 초대합니다.

This worship is centered on praising God and thanking him for all the blessings we receive.

이 예배가 하나님을 찬양하는 것과 우리가 받은 모든 은혜에 감사를 드리는 것이 중심입니다.

We also have prayers for healing.

우리는 또한 치유를 위해서 기도를 합니다.

Our prayer is that as people experience healing in our church they will return each Sunday in prayer, praise and thanksgiving for the healing they have received.

우리의 기도는 사람들이 교회에서 치료를 경험할 때, 매 주일 마다, 성도들이 받은 치유의 대해 감사하여 하나님께 기도, 찬양과 감사를 드리기 위해 돌아 올 것이라는 것입니다.

I urge you this day to be thankful for all the blessings you have received. Express your thankful heart with proclaim Jesus Christ to people who do not know Jesus in word and good deed.

저는 성도님들께서 받으신 모든 축복들에 대해서 감사를 드리도록 권면 합니다.

감사의 마을 예수님을 모르는 사람들에게 예수에 대해서 복음과 선행 으로 선포하십시요.

And in a spirit of thanksgiving return to church Sunday after Sunday with your praises and prayers of gratitude.추수감사의 영 안에서 매주 일 마다 교회에 오셔서 하나님께 찬양과 감사를 오려 드리길 축복합니다.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly father, we thank you for our blessings, our blessings of health, and family, and home, and church.

하늘에 계신 아버지, 우리에게 주신 축복들과에 대해서 감사를 드립니다. 건강과 가족들, 그리고 집과 교회에 대해서 감사를 드립니다.

We thank you and praise you for all you have done in our lives.

우리는 우리 인생가운데 행하셨던 모든 일들을 위해서 감사와 찬양을 드립니다.

We ask for continued blessing on our pastors, and elders and deacons. We ask for blessing on our families and friends.

우리 교회의 목사님들과, 장로님들과 집사님들에게 계속해서 축복하시길 기도합니다.

We praise and thank you in the glorious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

우리의 구주이신 예수 그리스도의 영광스러운 이름으로 당신께 찬양과 감사를 올립니다. 아멘.

1 Presbyterian Hymnal 559

Sermon – 1 Samuel 1 Family Stewardship

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – 1 Samuel 1 Family Stewardship

November 15, 2015

Today is Stewardship Sunday. We talk about stewardship every week as we present our gifts, tithes and offerings. Stewardship begins with the premise that everything is created by and owned by God. God provided us with this church, your home, the beach, the food we enjoy, the water we drink, the money you have invested, and the air we breathe. God also made us. And as a consequence of creation God continues to own everything he made. We were put here on earth to manage creation for God.

This is the opposite of what most of the world thinks. Most of the world believes that they own what they have. The first word out of the month of most children is “mine”. And most people continue to think that way throughout their lives. We tend to divide the world into what we own and what others own. But the Bible teaches us that this is incorrect. We really don't own anything. God owns it all. We are stewards. We are managers who care for God's creation.

This is why it is important to worship every Sunday, attend Bible studies, and read your Bible every day. The Bible is the instruction manual from God teaching us how to care for the creation the he made and he owns. Today we will turn to scripture and hear how one family dealt this idea of stewardship. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

1 Samuel 1:1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.

Elkanah has come from an aristocratic family. He is a Levite, a leader in his church. He is a wealthy land owner and can support two wives and a large family. The fact that he has two wives indicates, as we saw in Ruth, the importance of having sons to carry on one's name and inherit one's land. Possibly his first wife could not have children so he had to marry anther to ensure that he would have son. Possibly he inherited his brother's land and was required to marry his brother's widow to perpetuate his brother's name. Whatever it was, Elkanah now has two wives to support, and one has children while the other has none.

Elkanah's approach to stewardship is to give what scripture demands. Undoubtedly he has already given a tithe, 10% of his crops, the biblical minimum. Now he and his family are making the annual pilgrimage to Shiloh for a great festival. Elkanah is required to bring with him a young bull or a couple of lambs to be sacrificed for the festival. We are told that he does all that he is required to do by God's law, but he goes beyond this. Elkanah has a concern. His wife, Hannah, can't get pregnant. And so he increases his offering beyond what was required hoping that God would bless her with children.

This is how we, in the church, usually approach stewardship. We give what we think is required and then we add a little more if there is something we want God to do for us. But Elkanah is making the same mistake we make. He thinks that he owns his wealth and his land and his family. He thinks that he can do whatever he pleases with what he owns. But this is false. In reality God owns his money and his land and his family. Elkanah is a steward who is to use his money, land and family to achieve God's purposes on earth. God owns everything. Elkanah has been blessed with wealth, land and family to manage for God. God expects that Elkanah will use what he has been given to achieve God’s purposes on earth.

Let's turn now to Elkanah's wife Peninnah and see how she approaches stewardship.

6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Peninnah is a woman. She cannot own land. And so she is under no obligation to tithe. Her husband is responsible for the tithe and festival sacrifice. But she thinks that she owns her kids. She made them, didn't she? And since she successfully created children doesn't she have the right to unmercifully tease her rival who cannot? Of course not! Peninnah doesn't own her children. She didn't make them. God owns her children because God created them. Peninnah's responsibility is to raise her children in a way that honor's God. And teaching them, by her example of unkindness toward Hannah, is not the way to do this.

Peninnah is an example of how most people approach the idea of stewardship. They deny God's ownership and claim to own their things and families. When people think this way they see no reason to give to God's church or God's mission in the world.

We see this here in Ocean City. Our overall budget for church operations is around $160,000 per year. We have around 80 members. So the average member gives around $2000 this year. When you factor in the giving from the summertime visitors, the average member gives much less than $2000. Unless this is a very poor church, and I think not, our giving cannot possibly even rise to the level of a tithe, 10% of our income. So our giving is less than the biblical minimum. We are not even at Elkannah's level. We must be down with Peninnah somewhere.

Let's now turn to the third person in this family, Hannah.

9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house.10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

The only thing Hannah has is a husband. She is unable to own land and make money. She has no children. If Elkanah dies she will have nothing at all. She has nothing to offer God at the shrine of Shiloh, except her worship and prayers. Evidently she is the first person to pray to God silently. Eli thinks this is so odd that he accuses her of being drunk. But Hannah is not drunk, she is praying for a son and wants God to hear her prayer.

In her prayer Hannah acknowledges that any child that God might give her does not belong to her. A son from her womb is not her's; it’s God's. And so she promises that if God blesses her with a son she will not keep him. Rather he will be used for God's purposes. Hannah realizes that she is not an owner, but a steward of God's creation. She is to care for a son as he grows as an instrument of God's purpose. We are told that Hannah's prayers were answered.

We come to church, like Hannah, filled with our own needs. We pray to God, like Hannah, requesting his blessings. And so, like Hannah, we should acknowledge that all we have is owned by God and must be used for God's purposes.

If we were to do this the implications would be enormous. The church could hire a children's pastor who would go out into the community to reach the children and families who live here. We would expand the 1:00pm Praise and Healing service by forming a complete praise band where younger people would feel more comfortable in a contemporary service. We would be better able to care for the poor here in Ocean City. And we could better support missionaries all over the world. All this would happen if we believed, like Hannah, that all we have is owned by God and therefore we are stewards, tasked with using his creation to achieve his purpose.

Let's now fast forward to the next year and see Hannah's offering to God.

21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”

23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

And so Hannah has satisfied her vow, she paid her pledge. She promised God that if he blessed her with the son, he would be raised in God's service. And he was. The great prophet Samuel was born to Hannah who offered him up to God.

Everything we have is owned by God. We are stewards. As stewards we are managers of God's property. Our responsibility is to use God's property for God's purposes. This means that we support the church as God's primary mission in the world. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you for all the blessings we have receive. We acknowledge that all we have belongs to you, and we promise to use what you have given us to manage, for your purposes. This we pray in your son's name and in your spirit. Amen.

Sermon – Ruth 2-4 – Ruth and Boaz

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Ruth 2-4 – Ruth and Boaz                   

November 8, 2015

            I am continuing today with our look at the Book of Ruth.  Ruth is the personification of chesed.  Chesed is a concept which means kindness and loyalty.  But it goes far beyond this.  Chesed also deals with helping someone meet their deepest needs even if you must make a sacrifice.  As we saw chesed is a characteristic of God, and it is a characteristic of God’s people because we are to love one another just as God loves us.  We have seen chesed from a most unexpected source, a Moabite tribe.  Today we will see chesed from a Hebrew man in Bethlehem.  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

            May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

            As Ruth and Naomi make their way back to Bethlehem they must have been thinking about how they will be received.  Ruth especially is a hated Moabite, but she is the widow of a Hebrew man.  Let turn to the Law to see what this might mean for them.

Deuteronomy 7:1  When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations … ³ Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 

            So no Hebrew man is to marry an alien woman.  The risk is just too great that his wife will teach his children to worship her god.  If you do this within a generation there will be no one left who worships the Lord God of Israel.  From this law it is unlikely that Ruth, a Moabite, will ever find another Hebrew husband in Bethlehem.  Furthermore neither Ruth nor her children will ever be accepted into the Hebrew faith.  Listen to the law.

Deuteronomy 23:  ³ No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. ⁴ For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. ⁵ However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.⁶ Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.

            And so Ruth will not only never find a husband no one will trust her because she is a Moabite.  But the law is also clear that Ruth must be treated with hospitality.  She must be given food to eat.  We hear these instructions to Hebrew farmers in the law.

Leviticus 19  ⁹ “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

            And so during the harvest season Ruth and Naomi should have plenty to eat.  All they have to do is follow the harvesters into the field and glean whatever is left.  But Ruth, as the widow of a Hebrew man, had some rights.  Her late husband, Mahlon, would have inherited his father’s land in Bethlehem.  Ruth, a woman, could not own it herself.  But one of Mahlon’s relatives could redeem the property on the condition that he marry Mahlon’s widow, Ruth.  We read this in the law.

Deuteronomy 25: ⁵ “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. ⁶ And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 

            And so we have a conflict in the law.  On one hand someone must marry Ruth to inherit her husband’s land, but because she is a Moabite no one is allowed to marry her.  And so we turn to the Book of Ruth to see how Ruth and Naomi solve this problem.

Ruth 2: 1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

² And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³ So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

⁴ Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

⁵ Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

⁶ The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

⁸ So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. ⁹ Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

¹⁰ At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

¹¹ Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.¹² May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

¹³ “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ¹⁵ As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. ¹⁶ Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. ¹⁸ She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

¹⁹ Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

²⁰ “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.^[b]”

²¹ Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

²² Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

²³ So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

            Boaz has obey the law by letting Ruth glean in his field, but he has done far more than that.  Boaz is kind and loyal and goes above and beyond what he is required to do.  And so we see in Boaz, chesed.  But we still have the matter of the inheritance of the land and who will redeem the property and marry Ruth.  Let’s continue with the Book of Ruth.

Ruth 3:1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home  for you, where you will be well provided for. ² Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³ Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

⁵ “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. ⁶ So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

⁷ When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. ⁸ In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

⁹ “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

¹⁰ “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. ¹¹ And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 

            There are two laws.  One says you must not marry a Moabite wife.  The other says you must marry the widow of the man whose land you are inheriting.  Ruth wants a husband and has taken it upon herself to provide one because she wants to take care of Naomi.  Chesed, kindness, loyalty, meeting someone’s deepest needs, sacrificial love is more important than obeying the letter of the law.  The purpose of law is to help us chesed on another.  The lesson of Ruth is that whenever the law prevents us from kindness, loyalty, and meeting someone’s deepest needs the law must be ignored.  Chesed is far more important than law.

            Boas did inherit Elimelek’s fields.  And he married Ruth.  He chesed Ruth and Naomi, but what about their children?   Remember the law that said that the descendants of a Moabite could not enter the assembly for ten generations.  Well, once again chesed wins over law. Listen to the ending of the Book of Ruth.

Ruth 4:¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸ This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

¹⁹ Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

²⁰ Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,^[d]

²¹ Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

²² Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.

            King David was the great grandson of Ruth and Boaz.  God chesed his people so much that he gave them their greatest king descended from a Moabite woman, Ruth.  And that means that our own Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a descendant of Ruth the Moabite.  Let’s pray.

            We thank you O Lord for your chesed love and kindness to us.  We thank you for the gifts of men and women who immigrate to our country.  Help us to love them just as you love us.  In your son’s name we pray.  Amen.

Sermon – Ruth 1:1-18 Chesed Love

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Ruth 1:1-18 Chesed Love

November 1, 2015

Recently I completed a series of sermons from the Book of Job. You may remember that this book is in our Old Testament and in the writings section of the Hebrew Bible. It is a book of wisdom which uses personification to illustrate a complex idea. In the case of Job, he represented the concept of undeserved suffering.

Today we turn to the Book of Ruth. This book is also in our Old Testament and the writings section of the Hebrew Bible. It is also a book of wisdom which uses the literary device of personification to illustrate a complex idea. The concept which Ruth explains is chesed. Chesed is a Hebrew word which has no English counterpart. It is often translated into English as “mercy” or “kindness”. Miles Coverdale in his translation of The Great Bible used the term “lovingkindness”. All these translations miss the mark. Chesed is far more than mercy or kindness. It combines these concepts with loyalty and a promise and commitment to care for someone's needs. Since it is hard to grasp the meaning of chesed with an English translation it is most helpful to have a Biblical book which explains its meaning. And so we turn to the Book of Ruth. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

There are a couple of extraordinary things happening here. First, there is a famine in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a Hebrew word that means “house of bread”. It is the breadbasket of Judah. Bethlehem is a place of abundance where the abundant blessings of God are apparent. Remember, Jesus was born there. So if there is any place on earth that should not experience a famine it is Bethlehem. But in Bethlehem, there was a famine so severe that a man, his wife and two young sons must leave.

And then they do the second most extraordinary thing, they emigrate to Moab. The Moabites were semi-nomadic. What is probably happening is that a Moabite tribe is living in the desert and moving from one watering hole to another in search of grazing land for their goats and sheep. They have come near Bethlehem to trade meat and cheese for grain and olive oil. Even though this trade is beneficial to both the Moabites and the Behlehemites there are problems. The Moabites are hated. They are considered to be thieves. Something always seems to be missing when they're around. And back when Moses and the Israelites were themselves wandering around in the desert the Moabites refused to let them pass through their territory. And with a long history of hatred and distrust the people of Bethlehem were apprehensive whenever a Moabite tribe came near. And so when a Bethlehem family approached a Moabite tribe with a request to join them our expectation is that the answer will be “no”.

But that's not what happened. The Moabites showed chessed. They were kind to Elimelek and his family. But what they did was far more than kindness. They allowed a Hebrew family to live with them and marry their daughters. And when Elimelek and his sons died the Moabites took care of the three widows. Chessed is doing for someone far more than you are ever expected to do. It is kindness combined with sacrificial love.

Chesed is a characteristic of the God we worship. We read this in the second commandment.

Deuteronomy 5:8 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love (chesed) to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

And so God promises to chesed us, the ones who love him and keep his commandments. God is kind to us, but so much more. God sacrificed his son for us. God loves us so much he has forgiven our sin. God loves us so much he promises us eternal life. He cheseds us. Let's continue with the story.

6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

God so loved his people that he would not let them die of hunger. He sent the rain and made the crops grow. The Passover has arrived. The barley is being harvested. God chesed his people. It is time for Naomi, Elimelek's widow and the mother of two dead sons to return to Bethlehem. But first, she must talk with her son's widows. Let's listen.

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness (chesed), as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 

According to Naomi her two daughters-in-law had shown chesed to her and her sons. And so now she want God to bless these young women with chesed. We see from this that chesed, kindness with sacrificial love, is not just something we receive from God. It is something we do for each other. Jesus put it this way.

Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 … ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”

The girls, Ruth and Orpah, were filled with chesed. They not only wanted to be kind to Naomi, they also desired to act sacrificially. They were willing to do whatever they needed to do to care for their mother-in-law. Listen to what they said.

10 … “We will go back with you to your people.”

11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, 

Naomi has given her daughters-in-law good advise. There is no future for either of them in Bethlehem. The hatred of Moabites is just too great. No Hebrew man will marry a woman from Moab. They are much better off staying with their own tribe. Orpah relunctanly agreed. But Ruth had another idea.

14b but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

And so Ruth is the personification of chesed. She is kind and loyal to her mother-in-law. But she goes way beyond that. She loves Naomi so much she is willing to make many sacrifices. She will not only go to a place where finding a husband is almost impossible, she will also convert and worship Naomi's God. She does this because she loves Naomi so much and wants to care for her even if it leads to her death, chesed: kindness, loyalty and sacrificial love.

When the Bible tells us to love one another, this is what it means. We are to be kind and loyal. But that's not enough. We are to love each other so much that we help each other at times of great need even if it causes great sacrifice for ourselves. We are to chesed one another because chesed comes from God.

As we gather around this table today we will be experiencing God's chesed. God is kind to us and loyal to us. But he is so much more. At this table we remember that he laid down his life for us. If God cheseds us like this, shouldn't we chesed one another? Let's pray.

Father in heaven you are so kind and loyal to us. And you have sacrificed your own son for us. We thank you for the chesed we have receive. Help us to be a people that cheseds others. This we pray in the name of your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.